Victors
by Readergirl37
Summary: He physically couldn't do it. He stayed behind in District 12 while the other victor took the pair this year. He should have come with them. But he knew the girl. She was kind, and smiled at everyone, even him. Vampire Diaries characters in an all human Hunger Games au. Elijah/Elena
1. Part One of Three

AN: I took a quiz to determine districts, Elena got 12 and Elijah got 11. So I set it in 12. Human! Elena and human! Elijah. Also Marcel was the only person who I thought Elijah could deal with in this who wasn't blood related.

* * *

He physically couldn't do it. He stayed behind in District 12 while the other victor took the pair this year. He _should_ have come with them. But he knew the girl. She was kind, and smiled at everyone, even him. He got all kinds of smiles from people, mostly uncomfortable ones-but hers were always sincere. He had talked to her a few times, he mostly stuck to trying not to fall apart in the relative privacy of his own home.

* * *

She had volunteered, for one of her friends. The blonde his brother had been in love with before he died. He had never talked to the girl with genuine smiles about it, life was already a heavy weight. He wondered somedays, how she stayed afloat. He always felt like he was a few stones away from sinking. She had lost her parents and aunt, and almost her brother. She had a hard life, and she was so soft. He wasn't trying to be rude, but he had no idea how someone so kind could survive the Games. She wouldn't be manipulative, and he doubted she harmed anything in her life. He couldn't see her harming a bug, let alone another person. She had been so close to being too old to be reaped, just one more year.

* * *

He didn't watch the Games, the thought of having to watch the first person to talk to him like he was just a normal person after he had won die a brutal death made him want to drink. Not just a glass. A bottle or two. He doubted even the Capitol could fix him then, even with their technology and intelligence. He hated it all. He hated the entire system and the celebration of death. He had been her age when he had first learned what other people's blood drying on his skin felt like.

* * *

He does seek out her brother, and her uncle. He gives them a package each week, wordlessly. He knocks, they open the door and try to ask why he does it, but he leaves too quickly for them to ask more than that.

* * *

He accidentally hears news, a few weeks in. They mention him, by name. He knows he looks fine when he goes out of his house, really he only goes to the tribute to the home of the girl who took her friend's place anymore. He can't bring himself to think of her name. Elena. The name of a possibly soon to be dead girl. Elena Gilbert.

But the announcers mention that he's been visiting her family, a possible sign that he thinks she'll win. He wants to give a bitter laugh, he wishes she'd win. But he's not sure if she can make it that far. He can't tell if it's good or bad that he didn't talk to her as much as he wanted to.

* * *

He's with her family, for the minute he sees them for the week. She's announced the victor of the Hunger Games and all of the air in his lungs disappears.

He is not one for hugs, and most are wise enough to avoid physical contact with him. He did have one of his fellow tribute's hearts in his hand. People usually aren't too keen to be in close proximity to people who had killed others with their bare hands and been rewarded for it. He's just happy he got to stay out of the Capitol. But he can't avoid the hug of two people he's barely managed to speak a handful of words to.

He's stiff, and Elena's uncle, Alaric, thanks him. She got sponsors because of him, his visits every week made people speculate about her possible victory. He thanks the victor, and Elijah realizes, distantly, that he's about to have some new neighbors.


	2. Part Two of Three

He waits for her, waits for the train and his friend. He will have to thank Marcel for taking this one. Elena does not look the same. She gained a lot of muscle over a short amount of time, and her eyes have dark circles under them. The worst thing he can see, is that she no longer looks comfortable with herself. He congratulates her, it's automatic as he tries to come up with the right words to say. She thanks him, as she is engulfed in a hug, not unlike the one he was in just a few days prior.

* * *

He offers to help them move, and so does Marcel. They're the only victors of District 12 that are alive, he might as well know his neighbors.

* * *

As the new neighbors are settling in, he pours Marcel a drink and asks to hear about their time in the Capitol, how the Games went.

The younger man gives short laugh, and takes a drink before telling him how it was. He tells Elijah about Elena as a person, how hard she threw herself into all of it. She ate as much as possible, trained as hard as possible. She had promised her brother and uncle, that she would come home alive. Not in a box. He tells Elijah about how much she talked, what she said. She had known the other tribute. His name was Tyler.

* * *

He had helped her train even while they should have been sleeping, he admits that her first few days in the arena were probably the only days she hadn't woken up horribly sore. She had done well in making an impression. She got a 7. They wanted an average score, for her to help blend in.

* * *

Marcel thanks his mentor, pouring them both another drink, telling him that his faith in them was very much appreciated. He had a good amount of sponsors after he had been spotted leaving the Gilbert house after the second week.

* * *

Elijah admits all of it. The genuine smiles and his lack of watching, down to the visits.

Marcel looks interested, and tells him that Elena did ask about him. He had told her a few things about him, and hoped he didn't mind. Elijah tells him he doesn't.

* * *

When it gets too late, and Marcel is leaving and dutifully reminded to drink plenty of water when he gets home, Elijah pops two little pills and is asleep before his head hits the pillow.


	3. Part Three of Three

AN: It's been a while since I've read THG and I don't think they gave a specific time line from getting back to district 12 to the Victory Tour, so I'm winging this one.

* * *

He knows logically, that he's in his own home when he wakes up. But that doesn't stop his hand from looking for the knife on his nightstand. It's the same distance as his knife was in the Games. Every single night, just that far away. He puts it back down, leaves it on the nightstand. Someone rang his doorbell, he needs to go see who. Marcel knows that he barely sleeps enough as it is. It's someone else.

* * *

He's genuinely surprised when he sees that it's her. She looks at him with exhaustion etched into her face, her smile is still genuine.

"Sorry to wake you up. I can't sleep and I don't have anything to knock myself out with. On the train, I had something but I don't have anything now. I almost-" She trails off.

"I almost woke up Jeremy and Ric. So I thought Marcel might be up, but he didn't answer his door and I thought since you're a victor too that you'd-" She trails off again. He doesn't owe her anything.

* * *

He opens his door, and invites her in. She thanks him. He had seen a picture or two of her in the clothes they gave tributes-but she looks more comfortable in the loose pants and oversized sweater she's wearing.

He closes the door as she looks around.

"I'm sorry, I don't think I ever actually introduced myself to you." She apologizes, looking at him. Usually he wears a duller version of suits from the Capitol, he's wearing sleep pants and a loose shirt.

"I'm Elena Gilbert." She says, and offers an exhausted smile.

"Elijah Mikaelson." He says, and she nods. It's okay, she might be able to talk to him about this. She tries to figure out how to ease into the topic.

* * *

"You have nightmares of the arena." He says bluntly, as he sits on one of the couches in the spacious living room. She sits on the one across from him. The genuine smile slides off her face. She relaxes a little, and he can see the tension in her shoulders.

"Did you watch?" Her voice is almost hoarse. It's not enough that she had to be the last person left out of twenty four children, but people saw. Everything. Almost everything, they were given some modicum of modesty. She can't tell if she's relieved or annoyed that he didn't watch. On one hand, he didn't judge her from that, and on the other hand, she has to explain.

"I couldn't bring myself to." He confesses, his voice low. She nods.

"I was okay for the first few weeks, I climbed trees and hid. I've always been good at hiding. But then I got forced out of hiding. This girl, she was so little, she reminded me of Caroline when we were kids. She almost cut my throat open and I stabbed her with her own knife." She confesses her sins in a murmur, like if she says them quietly enough they won't be real.

"And then I started getting sponsor gifts. I killed eleven people in the arena. I am a monster, and everyone knows. I have to go on the Victory Tour and look at their families. Their friends will hate me for the rest of their lives, their mothers and fathers and brothers and sisters and aunts and uncles lost people because of me. I killed kids. I had to strangle someone to death. He couldn't breathe in my hands and I wanted to release him. I wanted to hug him and keep everyone safe. But I couldn't leave Jeremy alone, and I killed to keep my family. It's not fair at all, and I am a killer, I'm a monster, I'm no better than someone they execute for a killing spree. Everyone looks at me differently. Everyone. I know Jeremy is glad I'm back, but he watched me. My little brother had to watch me kill children." The words spill out, Marcel had told her she didn't need a filter with Elijah. She almost forgot what unfiltered words tasted like in her mouth.

He looks at her with those dark eyes of his, and she gets up abruptly, and moves to sit next to him. He wonders if there's something in his eyes, she's searching them so intensely.

"You look at me like you did before." There's raw relief in her voice.

"Of course. I'm sure you had to watch my year. I killed the same amount of people as you did." His year had been particularly bloody.

"Does it ever get easier?" She has to know and he's the only one with the answer. Marcel is only a few years older than her. Elijah has had to deal with it the longest.

"You always remember their faces. And if you learn their names, those haunt you too. You're always going to remember how it felt. Not like anyone will let you forget. It's always going to be in your dreams. I do have something for that. It's not addictive, I promise. At least the chemicals aren't. The dreamless sleep is."

"Does it get easier to deal with people?" She asks.

"No. You have to become a better actress for the Victory Tour. And when the next Reaping comes, you'll have to help Marcel and I train those tributes. You develop a mask for dealing with others. And you never really get to take it off."

"Yours is off right now." She observes. He nods.  
"You're a fellow victor. You understand." He says and she looks surprised. Killing eleven children gave her access to him like this. He asks if she wants tea and she nods, faintly aware of the time.

* * *

The mug is warm in her hands as they talk, she talks of how she messed up on her interview, and they had called her relatable. She confesses how she tried to stop the other tribute from their district, Tyler Lockwood, from dying. But an arrow in the back is fatal. She had asked for the cameras to focus somewhere else, a quiet plea, as he told her what he wanted her to tell his mother and uncle. She had no idea if they listened, but when she got out she asked. Marcel said the cameras did, he had no idea she had done that.

She used to be able to fix almost everything with hugs and talking, but now, almost no one will hug her. Let alone talk. She tells him how hard it was to knock on the door and know he was already buried. His mother had sobbed and clutched at a monster. Her brother in law had gently eased her off Elena, and she had clutched at him instead. She left after that. She wasn't welcome. She didn't blame them.

She thought the last thing she would talk about with Elijah was the Games. He gives her a few details of his experiences, and they seem to help her. He tells her he volunteered for his brother, Henrik. When he got home, he had no one left alive in his family. A freak accident. No one left. She feels glad to at least have Alaric and Jeremy. She doesn't talk about them after that. The Games, are all she ends up manages to talk about, before she realizes it's morning.

* * *

She says goodbye, and walks the few yards to her house.

* * *

He doesn't expect her to be back the next night, but she is, and he shares his dreamless sleep pills with her. She comes back every night after that. Even when the team of stylists comes. They shift from his uncomfortable couches to his bed, the feeling of someone close while she sleeps is comforting. The next morning, he asks if he can call her his ally, and she shakes her head. She would prefer the title of friend. But ally almost works better, she sleeps with a dagger in one of her hands and he has his knife a foot away from him. They're good allies. He trains her on how to give a perfect fake smile, how to deal with the asinine people of the Capitol and everything in between.

* * *

It's not until their last night before they leave that it happens. She kisses him, and he kisses her back. She doesn't know what to call it, and he doesn't call it anything. He's a little closer when they fall asleep that night.

* * *

He kisses her the first night on the train, she almost thought he didn't want whatever they had done the night before to continue, but he did. So did she.

* * *

His kiss doesn't take away the pain, doesn't make her forget that they're both horrible people and murderers. But it does make her stop thinking, for however long. They spend their nights in the same bed. Marcel is wise enough not to say anything. The team of Capitol people aren't, but she tells them that her private life is just that, private. Not up for discussion. Besides, they've all seen her kill. They're in a train with three killers. Her escort looks shocked as her blue hair is bright. The only Capitol person she likes is her stylist. She doesn't judge at all.

* * *

The Tour is hard. Knowing she killed people's children is almost harder. She gets prewritten speech cards for each district. The Capitol is the easiest and the hardest. It's easy to pretend like she's fine and lose herself in the light and noise and food. But Elijah touches her hand, and it's a reminder of reality. He reminds her, with a simple gesture, that she can't forget her mask. She has to have it or they'll tear her to shreds. She wants to send him a thank you note, some of the people in the city remind her of an animal they saw in district four. Sharks. She thanks him later when they're about to fall into dreamless sleep.

* * *

After the Victory Tour, her friends are still distant. She's been made a little untouchable. She does share her winnings with as many people as possible, she doesn't eat that much, and she takes part of Elijah and Marcel's too. There's no point for people to starve to death while she has food.

* * *

She moves into Elijah's house after a year, and her brother marries a girl named Anna. Alaric still lives in the house that's technically Elena's. She visits every day. But Marcel and Elijah understand her the best.

* * *

One day, after dinner, she asks if he's ever heard of nightlock. He nods. It's poison. She says she has some for dessert, and she's almost worried when his face is neutral. She has watched kids die every year. She's ready to leave. He tells her there should be some cake to eat it with, and she nods in approval.

Before they both die, he wonders if they hadn't gotten reaped, if they had been in a world without reaping, if they could have been truly happy together. She was the only happiness he ever had after the Games. He wasn't about to live without her, or let his ally/lover go alone.

* * *

She has an apology for Marcel on the dining room table, and another for Jeremy and Alaric. They'll find it shortly, she thinks as she holds his hand.

* * *

finis


End file.
